


That Pivotal Moment

by Spacecadet72



Category: Knives Out (2019)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-22
Updated: 2020-03-22
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:55:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23257267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spacecadet72/pseuds/Spacecadet72
Summary: Marta is in danger and Benoit can't get to her fast enough.
Relationships: Benoit Blanc/Marta Cabrera
Comments: 6
Kudos: 104





	That Pivotal Moment

**Author's Note:**

> This is for nintendoianrose on tumblr who prompted "You have to leave right now." 
> 
> There's a lot of plot handwaving in this, because DRAMA. I apologize to people who actually want case fic.
> 
> Title comes from This Kiss by Faith Hill.

"Why don't I go check out the house while you finish up here?" Marta asked, quietly as they looked over evidence at the police station. They were working with Lt. Elliott and Trooper Wagner once again for this case, and they were much more willing to work with them than some LEOs. 

Benoit looked up from the document he was reading, and nodded absentmindedly. "That would be great," he said before turning his attention back to the papers in front of him. They wanted to check out the house of one of their suspects, but their current theory was that he wasn't guilty. Going to the house was just doing their due diligence.

He waved as she left with a goodbye, shutting the door behind her softly. There was something they were missing, and he had a feeling it was somewhere in the papers they were going through. He just needed that last piece of information to complete the arc of the case. What were they missing?

Half an hour later, he took his glasses off and rubbed at his eyes. He wasn't any closer to finding that last piece than he had been at the beginning of the day, a headache the only thing to show for his work. 

He stood up, needing to step away for a moment, needing to clear his head. That last piece was sitting, just at the edge of his brain, like a word on the tip of his tongue. He knew it was there, but he couldn't quite grasp it. 

He grabbed a cup of coffee from the break room, taking a moment to sip it slowly. He would be glad when this case was over. He had been thinking of asking Marta to dinner, but wanted to be in between cases when he did. He didn't want that kind of distraction while they were working. 

"Mr. Blanc?"

Benoit turned at the nervous sounding voice to see a younger officer standing in the break room doorway. 

"Yes?"

"Lt. Elliott wants to see you, sir." 

Benoit nodded and finished his coffee in one gulp before tossing the cup in the trash. He walked quickly to Lt. Elliott's office. It probably wasn't urgent, but if it would help them solve this case more quickly, he wanted to know now. 

"What is it?" he asked as he entered the office. 

Lt. Elliott looked up at him and sighed. "William Kellogg is guiltier than we thought," he said, looking as haggard as Benoit felt. This case had dragged on longer than anyone thought it would. 

"What do you mean?" he asked, walking further into the office. 

"We stopped by Kellogg's office and they haven't seen him in three days. We searched his office and found the same materials used to make the bombs we found at the crime scenes.” 

Benoit's eyes widened as he felt his heart drop into his stomach. "Marta's at his house," he said, grabbing for his phone in his pocket. He saw Elliott move past him, heard him ordering officers to the house, but all he could focus on was dialing Marta's number. 

"Pick up, pick up," he muttered as the phone rang. 

"Hey," came Marta's voice, casual and easy. "Did you find something?"

"Marta, you have to leave right now," he said, wishing he had never let her go. "Kellogg is the killer, you need to get out of there." 

"Benoit--" 

A loud noise sounded from somewhere on her end, and then the call dropped. 

Everything went numb as he sank into the chair next to him, his legs not able to support him in that moment. Was she gone, was that a bomb going off? Was he never going to see her again?

"Benny!" 

Benoit turned, Lt. Elliott standing in the door of his office. "I've been calling you, we need to go." 

He nodded, and stood, following after Elliott with shaky steps. 

"Were you able to get a hold of Marta?" 

Benoit shook his head. It still didn't feel real that she might be...He couldn't think like that and shook his head. She needed his head clear so they could get Kellogg into custody and stop anyone else from getting hurt. "She picked up, but then there was a loud noise and the call ended."

Elliott shared a grim look with him before they hurried off to his car. 

The drive to Kellogg's house was interminable, and Benoit couldn't stop his leg from bouncing up and down. He needed to see her, needed to know she was okay. She had to be alright. She had to be. 

Lt. Elliott pulled up to the curb, behind the firetruck, ambulance and police cars and Benoit was opening the door and out of the car before it had fully stopped. He stumbled to his feet and ran towards the house. "Marta! Marta!" he called, hoping she was in a state to hear him. 

"Benoit?"

He whirled around, trying to see where her voice was coming from. She was alive. She was _alive._

She stood next to one of the ambulances, an EMT hovering over her. There was a cut just above her brow, but other than that she seemed fine. 

He ran to her, stopping just short of pulling her into a crushing hug, not wanting to hurt her further. 

"You're alright?" he asked, his hands hovering just over her arms, trying to look for any other obvious injuries. 

She nodded. "I was far enough away from the house when the bomb went off that I wasn't really hurt. This is the worst of it," she said, gesturing to the cut on her face. "I was thrown back, but they've checked me out and I'm fine." 

"I was so worried, I thought..." he said, feeling tears fill his eyes. 

"I'm sorry I didn't call you back," she said, looking remorseful. "One of the officers was hurt pretty bad, I was doing what I could until the EMTs got here." 

"As long as you're alright," he said, shaking his head. 

She smiled up at him. "I'm alright." 

Without thinking, he leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers. As soon as he did, he realized he had crossed a line and pulled back. "I'm so sorry," he said, taking a step back. "I shouldn't have--" 

Marta took a step forward and pulled him down by the lapels of his jacket for a kiss. It only took a moment for him to recognize what was happening and act. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in closer, his mouth opening to hers as the kiss deepened, a frenzied feel to it. 

A wolf whistle sounded behind them and they broke apart, both blushing. They turned to see Trooper Wagner smiling widely, and Lt. Elliott laughing behind them. Trooper Wagner was taking a few bills out of his pocket to hand to Elliott, who accepted them happily. 

"It's about time," Elliott said, shaking his head.

"Yeah, we were beginning to think it would never happen," Wagner said, that wide grin still on his face, despite having clearly just lost whatever bet had been going on. 

Benoit turned back to Marta. "I'm sorry," he said, wishing this had happened any other way, as glad as he was to have been able to kiss her. 

She looked up at him, her eyes sparkling. "I'm not." 

"I had been hoping to ask you to dinner after the case was over." 

"I would love to," she said, before turning her attention to Elliott. "Do we know where Kellogg is?"

Elliott nodded. "Just got the word that he's in custody. You guys can leave as soon as you're cleared to go, Marta." 

Marta turned back to him with a grin. "How about tonight?" 

He reached down to lace his fingers with hers. "Tonight sounds perfect."


End file.
